Digital Humanities is bubbling over with fascinating projects and activities . . . but these often come at a high cost, whether it is in time spent learning new and ever-morphing software (and hardware) or putting together grant applications or assembling teams and overseeing project management, or in terms of ease of access being dependent on having computer labs at hand and sophisticated super-powerful equipment and super-skilled colleagues and administrations that selectively finance “signature” dh projects as part of larger academic institution-branding initiatives. Digital Humanities done “Digital Humanities Center”-style is becoming the default mode in thinking like a digital humanist, especially when updating traditional scholarly outputs to fit with the new opportunities that massive computing power makes possible.
Is there another mode that is possible/viable/desirable/worthwhile? I’m interested in how our expectations might shift if we approach digital humanities from a minimal computing mindset — and how this could impact the who what and why of dh, keeping our social, intellectual, cultural and ethical options more open than DHC-style dh does. If anyone’s interested in discussing minimal computing, I’m up for it! Having been immersed in the DIY ethic of the punk rock underground of the late ’70s is helpful in thinking about this (okay, maybe that’s just me) but there are serious contributory streams from the programming world (minimal computing by choice) and from those thinking about global engagement (minimal computing by necessity). What can happen in the shared space where these spheres intersect?
Some links:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minimalism_(computing)
www.globaloutlookdh.org/minimal-computing/kickstart-workshop/
dpod.kakelbont.ca/2012/11/02/in-a-rich-mans-world-global-dh/
#THATCampOK
